How North Carolina banks are keeping pace with new technology
Key points:
August 2026 — Raleigh-Durham‘s banking leaders keep arriving at the same conclusion from different directions: technology earns a place in the customer relationship only when it strengthens that relationship, never when it stands in for it.
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The clearest evidence of that thinking shows up at the exact moment things go wrong. Routine transactions move to mobile without resistance. But the instant something feels uncertain or high-stakes, customers want a person on the line. Navy Federal Credit Union built its entire branch model around that split. “We constantly evaluate whether a tool enhances the member experience — does it increase speed, convenience, or effectiveness?” said John Menoni, the credit union’s senior vice president of branch operations. “If so, it has a place in our model.” Some days, a member wants to complete a quick transaction on their phone. Other days, they want a face-to-face conversation, and Navy Federal keeps both pathways open on purpose.
Consumers back that instinct with their own behavior. A February 2026 Morning Consult survey conducted for the American Bankers Association, covering more than 4,400 adults, found that consumers largely recognize and credit banks for active fraud-fighting efforts — a trust dividend that institutions built around live human contact are positioned to keep.
That trust is becoming harder-won by the month. Faster payment rails compress the window banks have to catch fraud before money moves, and 2026 fraud trend data from ACI Worldwide shows consumer fraud losses climbing at roughly 20% year over year, with real-time and instant credit transfers among the most exploited channels. The threat is also getting harder to spot through a screen alone: Jack Henry’s 2026 fraud outlook flags deepfake voice calls and hyper-personalized social engineering as tactics now blurring the line between a legitimate customer and an impersonator.
Piedmont Federal Bank President and CEO David Barksdale sees the same pattern on the commercial side. “Technology is excellent when everything is working as designed, but businesses still want a real person when there is a problem, when fraud is suspected, or when a transaction is not straightforward,” Barksdale said. “In our experience, most business owners want that banker to come to them, understand the business, and help solve the issue.”
Barksdale notes that fraud is part of that calculation too. “Faster payments create efficiency, but too much frictionless movement can create openings for fraudsters,” he said. “A little friction can be a good thing when it helps protect the client.”
Community banks are leaning into that same logic as a growth strategy, not just a defensive one. “We’re a community bank. We’ve been in business for 119 years. We firmly believe in the relationship model,” said M&F Bank President and CEO James Sills, describing an approach built on understanding where a customer stands, where that customer wants to go, and how the bank helps close the gap.
That has not stopped the bank from expanding online applications, digital portals, and treasury management services, or from embedding AI across loan processing, account opening, and financial data consolidation. “Customers have access to these options with larger financial institutions, and we want to meet and exceed customer expectations with similar tools,” Sills said. “We want to do more, but it’s an investment, and it takes time.”
That gap between ambition and full deployment is not unique to M&F. J.P. Morgan’s inaugural Payments Outlook 2026 report found that 87% of organizations have implemented some level of treasury automation, but only 39% describe their systems as fully automated, a modernization curve most community institutions are still climbing.
First Bank Raleigh is climbing it with visible caution. “We’re exploring how AI can support risk management, credit analysis, and operational efficiency, but we’re being careful to ensure it aligns with our values and regulatory responsibilities,” said SVP and Area Executive David Booth. “We see technology as a tool to enhance service, not replace relationships.”
Booth also points to something technology cannot replicate: “Our teams live and work in the communities we serve, and that allows us to build stronger relationships and respond faster when clients need us.” That caution tracks with an industry-wide rationale: ACAMS’ 2026 fraud trends outlook argues that human judgment remains central to protecting institutions, since investigators supply context and accountability an algorithm cannot, and AI should support fraud and anti-money-laundering staff rather than replace them.
North State Bank CEO Larry Barbour makes the sharpest version of the same argument. “Every person communicates; few people connect,” Barbour said. “You can compete on products and services, but nobody can compete with culture.” That philosophy is why North State did away with loan committees entirely: “We empower our bankers. There are no loan committees here. A small business owner should be able to sit down with a leader who knows the community and can make a responsible decision with the customer, rather than sending the relationship into a back room.”
Barbour is careful to draw the line on technology’s role, not its value. “Technology can become a separator if it replaces relationships instead of supporting them,” he said. “It has to supplement and enhance relationships, and it has to be at the call of the human side.”
At North State, that shows up in something simple. “If you call us, a live person answers the phone. When you walk into our bank, someone greets you. People notice that because it is not as common as it should be, and for us, it is not just what we do; it is who we are.”
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